ARTICLE: Accusations of lying prompt self-reflection in German media

German news media has been recently met with an renewed flurry of Lügenpresse accusations. The term Lügenpresse, or “lying press”, dates back to the First World War, but is best known for its use by the German Nazi party. In recent years, the term’s use has resurged. Michael Koliska, of Georgetown University, and Karin Assmann, … Continued

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Published: 18 Dec 2019
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ARTICLE: Media coverage of Islam may affect radicalization

The way news cover Islam and Muslims has the potential to increase or decrease the likelihood of Islamist radicalization, an experiment conducted at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich suggests. Katharina Neumann, Florian Arendt and Philip Baugut first interviewed six former extremists (e.g. ISIS members), and then conducted a laboratory experiment with 194 self-identified Muslims … Continued

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Published: 19 Feb 2018
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ARTICLE: User generated content makes news appear less trustworthy

“It appears that journalism’s trustworthiness will more likely suffer than benefit from an increased use of UGC”, write Katherine M. Grosser and Florian Wintterlin, both of University of Münster, with Valerie Hase, of University of Zurich (names not in original order). The authors conducted an online experiment with 487 Germans, exposing the participants to articles … Continued

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Published: 13 Nov 2017
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ARTICLE: The relationships between PR and journalists in Germany

Relationships between journalists and PR practitioners are complex. Thomas Koch, of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Magdalena Obermaier and Claudia Riesmeyer, both of Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, conducted a survey to which 835 journalists and 601 public relations practitioners in Germany responded, looking at how public relations exerts power over journalists. The research studies six bases of … Continued

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Published: 21 Sep 2017
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ARTICLE: German newsrooms do not embrace transparency

The norm of transparency finds only “limited purchase” among German journalists, write Michael Koliska, of Georgetown University, and Kalyani Chadha, of University of Maryland. The authors interviewed 17 German journalists from 15 leading news outlets. Koliska and Chadha approached the adoption of the transparency norm through the concept of innovation diffusion. Relying on Everett Rogers‘ … Continued

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Published: 14 Aug 2017
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ARTICLE: Incomprehensible news create “illusions of knowledge”

People with low need for cognition (NFC) will feel more knowledgeable after reading an incomprehensible news article than after reading a comprehensible article, Mathias Weber and Christina Koehler, both of Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, discovered. The authors conducted an online experiment with 82 Germans. The participants read one of two versions of the same … Continued

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Published: 26 Jun 2017
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ARTICLE: Public service news are more diverse than commercial

News published online by public service broadcasters provide more diversity than news published by other types of news organisations, Edda Humprecht and Frank Esser, both of University of Zurich, write. The authors analysed 1 660 political news articles, published by 48 news organisations in six countries: United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. … Continued

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Published: 27 Apr 2017
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ARTICLE: What predicts information overload when reading news online?

People who are confident about their capability to seek information experienced less information overload, a new study finds. Josephine B. Schmitt, of the University of Cologne, Christina A. Debbelt, of the University of Hohenheim & Frank M. Schneider, of the University of Mannheim studied predictors of information overload (IO) with online news. The authors conducted … Continued

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Published: 18 Apr 2017
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ARTICLE: News media affects German energy policy

News media has power to sway energy policy, especially at the beginning and at the end of a policy cycle, Nayla Fawzi, of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, writes. Fawzi surveyed 338 German policy makers and media representatives over how they perceive different actors’ influence on German energy policy. Fawzi divided the respondents into five … Continued

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Published: 27 Mar 2017
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ARTICLE: Commercial logic has gained ground in German news in 30 years

Have traits of commercialization, such as conflict, personalization and scandals become more common in news? Maria Karidi of LMU Munich studied how characteristics of commercial media logic appear in German news during 30 years of time. The article looks at 2973 news articles from 1984, 1989 and 2014. The news sample is gathered from Süddeutsche … Continued

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Published: 25 Jan 2017